Quinoa Pizza Crust

 Do you love pizza?  I sure do, and I'm pretty sure I can thank my parents for instilling in me a love of pizza.  I can still remember going to the Pizza Pieman as a child.  This was a restaurant where you would order your pizza and then you could go and sit by the plexiglass enclosed kitchen to watch your pizza get made!  I suppose you could do the same thing at Panago today, but when I was a child, this was pretty fantastic, and it was a restaurant, so your pizza - the one you watched get made - was delivered to your table.  

(pictured above:  pizza dough made using beans)

I also enjoyed a lot of homemade pizzas, thanks to my Dad.  It was definitely a regular thing to make and eat in our home growing up, and I have carried on that tradition.  Over the years, I have come across some great recipes for dough - some that you can freeze ahead of time, some that are super easy and are ready in 10 minutes, a pizza dough made using beans, and when I was on a gluten-free diet, I tried many, including one that was made out of oats (g.f.) and a pizza with a zucchini crust.

 (pictured above:  quick pizza dough)

As I mentioned in a previous post, my husband does not eat anything that is processed, including any kind of flour, so that has meant that pizza is not something he can eat...until now.  I have had this recipe for a while, but just made it about a week ago.  And I have already made it again.  It is super easy, but you do need to plan ahead as it uses quinoa that is soaked over night.  Finally, Jim can have some pizza.  Whatever your dietary needs, I hope you can find a pizza that works for you.

 Recipe credit goes to Cooking Light.  Put 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa in a small bowl and cover it with water.  Let the quinoa soak overnight or for at least 8 hours.

 This is what it looked like after 8 hours

 Drain and thoroughly rinse

 Place the quinoa, 1/4 water, 1 tsp. baking powder, and 1/4 tsp. salt in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth, about 2 minutes.  Scrape down the sides as necessary.

 

 Line an 8 or 9-inch round cake pan with parchment paper; then spray the parchment paper with cooking spray.  Pour the batter into the pan.  Bake the crust for 15 minutes at 425 degrees F.

 Flip the crust over and return to the oven for 5-10 minutes more or until golden and the edges are crispy.

 At this point, you can make your pizza or you can wait and make it later.

 We started with a tomato sauce base, but last week I used pesto, which was really tasty.

 For this pizza, we made a vegetarian variety with sauteed onions, peppers, mushrooms, mozza, feta, olives, and oregano.

 

 Bake until lightly browned on top

Enjoy!

Ingredients:
3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
1/4 cup water
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt